A new group of quilters = excitement

I had a great time teaching the first session of Beginning Quilting on Saturday. It's always fun starting a new group on the road to quilting, but several of the people are from my hometown, so that makes it even more fun! They are making More Peas in a Pod, which is a variation of my pattern Peas in a Pod that appeared in McCalls magazine a few years ago. This is a great pattern to teach strip cutting and piecing methods.

As you can see, they all chose gorgeous fabrics, so it will be interesting to see the end results.

Cutting is always the biggest bump in the road, as squaring up and keeping the cuts accurate are a big part of accurate piecing. We figured out where the 1/4" was on each machine as accurate sewing makes for accurate blocks too! Many people believe that if they sew with their fabrics next to the presser foot, that is 1/4" but it usually is not. It's nice when you can move your needle on your machine so you can line up with the foot, but it's not always possible.

Their homework is to make the twelve blocks before our next class in two weeks. They were progressing well, so I think they will be ready to sew the blocks together next time.

My More Peas in a Pod quilt

More Peas in a Pod